Suggestion for TFT Video Assist Monitor?

[Marc Roessler]

Hi,

 

I'm searching for a TFT Video assist monitor for my 4:3 b&w video assist (an XTR Prod, not that it matters... as far as I know it's said to be one of the better quality video assists?). After going through three monitors that all turned out not to really be optimal I'm looking for suggestions here.

 

What's important to me:

1. can display b/w images

2. 16:9 display, can display 4:3 (zoomed, keeps aspect ratio) and 16:9 signals

3. low power consumption

4. bright image

5. usable without a remote control, no setup required after power-on

6. good resolution and good scaling/video circuitry

7. screen > 6 inches

 

Concerning item 1, it's surprising but not all displays can display b&w images. One of them crashed when you'd display a b&w image and switch between 4:3 and 16:9. No way to get back into the menu (even after power cycling with delay, or resetting) without applying a color (PAL) image first. This is really bad on a set where you only got a b&w video assist!

 

Item 2: it's equally surprising, but some 16:9 images display 4:3 images squeezed so they fit the screen. Not quite good for a video assist where you have to judge movement and track it accordingly.

 

Item 3 and 4 work against one another, obviously. Howevere there are displays which are a bit more power efficient and real power hogs on the other hand. Consumption usually is between about 7 and 12 Watts.

 

Item 5 really means: power on, image is displayed - either in standard mode, or in the last mode the monitor was set to. On Screen Display.

 

Concerning item 6, there are quite some stinkers out there. I've been using a small Sony XV-M30E monitor... I know video assist is really just for framing, but what I got by feeding this monitor a b/w signal is bizarre. Maybe the pixel count is not quite optimal here...

 

Any suggestions?

 

Thanks,

Marc

Edited November 27, 2010 by Marc Roessler

[Marc Roessler]

P.S.. 16:9 display with zooming into the 4:3 image is nice when you want to display a 1.85:1 ground glass image full screen. Native 4:3 display (with black side bars) is nice when you want to see what's going on around the frame. So ideally, both of these options should be possible.

[Phil Rhodes]

You can get one of the el-cheapo chinese "Lilliput" things - get the right one and they have all the zoom and crop options you can shake a stick at, and they're not bad as regards recovering glitchy transmitted signals either.

 

Until recently that would have been the easy, cheap choice. However, there's been some talk on dvxuser about a very low cost monitor with HDMI inputs, meaning that it will be a somewhat reasonable HD viewfinder as and when you do any video jobs as well.

 

P

[Jason Hinkle RIP]

I'm searching for a TFT Video assist monitor for my 4:3 b&w video assist

 

I have a color 4:3 video assist, so I don't know if there is an issue with B&W but i've used two different monitors which I liked. A Marshall LCD70p-HDA and more recently a SmallHD DP6. The SmallHD does have a custom zoom that allows you to set the zoom, horizontal and vertical offset separately and you have I think 6 custom presets that you can save for instant recall. So that's pretty nice for lining up custom framing.

 

The marshall has some zoom presets as well. For both monitors, though I tend to prefer the 1-to-1 pixel display because it's a little sharper. I usually just put gaffers tape over the monitor based on my shooting ratio. I don't find any of the smaller monitors to look "great" but they do the trick to see the framing. None of them are good enough to use for critical focus, though so far as I have seen.